Superintendent Arntzen Prioritizes School Safety

• Brian O'Leary
• December 16 2022

HELENA – Superintendent Elsie Arntzen continues to prioritize school safety as a pathway to student success. Incidents of violence and threats cause great distress within Montana schools and the communities.

“Family and community support is the beginning of creating a safe learning environment for our students,” said Superintendent Elsie Arntzen. “It has been a decade since the tragedy at Sandy Hook in Connecticut and seven months since the horrific event in Uvalde, Texas. We must never forget and continue to focus on the health and well-being of our Montana students.”

There are many resources schools can take to better prepare, prevent, and respond to violence including:

• Resources for creating a positive school climate can be found on the Office of Public Instruction’s (OPI) website
• A creating safe schools video features guidance from the U.S. Secret Service and U.S. Department of Education
• Implementing a school threat assessment and intervention process can make schools safer while simultaneously strengthening student well-being
• Students and teachers should be familiar with the level of threatening or concerning behaviors that may lead to acts of violence
• Other resources for active shooter trainings and tabletop exercises are available on OPI’s Drills and Exercises website
• 10 Key Findings from the Safe Schools Initiative video examines incidents of targeted school violence from the time the incident took place backward to identify the events and factors that lead to the incident

Montana school districts also utilize the School Resource Officer (SRO) program. SROs are partnerships between local police departments, county sheriff offices, and local school districts that help create a safe learning environment. Training is also available for individual schools through a partnership with the Montana Safe Schools Center. Any schools that are interested in receiving threat assessment training can contact Michele Henson at michele.henson@mt.gov

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